RINGLING BROS. AND BARNUM & BAILEY CIRCUS, Delta Center, through Sunday (325-7328), running time: 135 minutes (one intermission)
"Lions and tigers and bears ... Goodbye?"
There are still big cats and bears in the alternating "red unit" of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, but the "blue unit" show in the Delta Center comes close to being "all new."
The biggest change? There is only one large ring instead of three (resembling the "Disney on Ice" shows).
Also, the "greatest show on Earth" has also gone high-tech, with a large, high-definition video screen at one end of the arena, giving the audience close-up views of many of the acts. The same images, shot by a team of camera-toting circus roustabouts, are shown on the Delta Center's Jumbotron for those in the upper deck.
With only one ring instead of three, there are fewer total acts (and about half the usual number of elephants), but Feld Entertainment doesn't scrimp on spectacle.
There's also a storyline — a plot that's about as thin as a high-wire cable, but it functions nicely in tying the various acts together.
A "family" is picked from the audience to experience what it would be like to run away and join the circus. Dad (Chuck Wagner) has always wanted to be a ringmaster; Mom (Gisela Riquelme), who is known for cooking a mean tuna casserole, dreams of being an aerialist; daughter Jan longs to be a dancer and son Dan is indecisive. (The kids are played by rotating performers.)
And chanteuse Jennifer Fuentes, a former Miss Florida contestant who became an "American Idol" finalist, is onboard as part singer, part assistant ringmaster.
The only cats in this production are more like the household variety — cuddly little felines that are part of Madame Shamsheeva's two segments in the show. She puts a flock of trained doves and furry felines through their paces during Act One, then returns after intermission with her trained canines and more cats.
The 14-member Igor Kassaev Cossacks do triple duty with their amazing horsemanship — first in a series of precision drills, then some thrilling Roman racing and, in a third segment, some "extreme" stuntwork.
Two Asian troupes — the Shenzhens and the Yunnan Flyers — demonstrate daring agility in three diverse routines. The Shenzhen Troupe delighted the crowd with humorous Chinese hat juggling (this must be a political year, as they tossed their bright, yellow hats into the ring), and intricately choreographed foot juggling. The Yunnans demonstrated the Chinese art of combining acrobats with high-flying flips and somersaults, catapulting off of two swings.
Hungarian Joszef Pakucza, billed as "Herkules," is a throwback to the circus' old-time traditional strongman act. Brazilian Wellington Silva (a k a "Super Silva") has one of the show's loopiest segments — walking upside-down in a series of loops hanging high above the arena floor. The big windup act is the Torres Family of Mexico — seven fearless motorcyclists spinning rapidly around the cramped interior of the Globe of Death.
There is also a plentiful supply of comic relief delivered by one of circusdom's most famous ensembles — the madcap residents of Clown Alley. They had a spectacularly messy food fight, complete with an endless array of cream pies, then some of them competed in a "Smashcar" speed rally.
The bottom line: There are trade-offs. There may be fewer acts on the menu, but gone is the confusion of trying to watch three different groups in side-by-side rings all at the same time.
Dan and his ringmaster dad sum things up: "If you can dream it, you can do it."
E-mail: ivan@desnews.com